Rumination and distraction in major depression: assessing response to pharmacological treatment

Response style theory of depression (RST) predicts that individuals who ruminate in response to their depressed mood will suffer an amplification and prolongation of that mood, whereas individuals who engage in distraction responses will alleviate and attenuate their depressed mood. RST has been shown to predict prolonged depression in samples of non-clinical, untreated individuals with mild to moderate depression but has not been tested in samples of depressed patients undergoing treatment.

In this preliminary investigation we examined: (1) whether RST predicts non-response to pharmacotherapy with outpatients suffering from major depression, and (2) whether distractive and ruminative responses are associated with clinical variables hypothesized to be associated with them.

Eighty-nine depressed outpatients being treated with standard antidepressant pharmacotherapy were administered the Response Style Questionnaire, a scale designed to measure rumination and distraction, prior to treatment.

Distraction, but not rumination, predicted change in depression severity over the course of treatment and overall treatment outcome. Neither rumination nor distraction was associated with previous number of depressive episodes or duration of current depressive episode.

These results provide only partial support for RST as a predictor of treatment response. Future investigations are needed to determine if rumination and distraction are predictive of recurrent depressive episodes in recovered depressed patients.

As the data in this study was retrieved from a clinical database, the conclusions of this report must be viewed tentatively. Replication with other clinical samples is needed.